Luke Walton rips Lakers for ‘embarrassing’ performance after 49-point loss
The Los Angeles Lakers suffered their worst loss in franchise history Sunday, and needless to say, head coach Luke Walton was not a happy camper.
After a 122-73 drubbing at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks, Walton went off on his guys for their “embarrassing” performance and said that the team as a whole “wasn’t ready to play,” per Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.
After worst loss in #Lakers history, Luke Walton said team "wasn't ready to play. That was embarrassing."
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) January 22, 2017
Luke Walton: We didn’t show up to play. It’s embarrassing for us as a team, an organization, for our #Lakers fans. The effort wasn't there."
— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) January 22, 2017
The 73 points were a season-low for the Lakers and their fewest in a single game since an 80-73 loss to the Utah Jazz in March 2015. It was also their seventh time giving up 120 points or more just this season alone. And it’s not like the 15-29 Mavericks are a Murderers’ Row either as they are actually averaging the fewest points in the NBA this season (96.6 per game).
The grand irony is that the pummeling came 11 years to the day of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors. When you consider that the now 16-32 Lakers couldn’t even crack 81 as a team on Sunday, it’s easy to see why Walton, who was actually a teammate of Bryant’s on the Lakers during that historic scoring outburst, is fed up about having to hold another L.
